When you trust a doctor, a hospital, or a nurse with your health, you are trusting them to meet a real standard of care. Most do. But when a provider falls below that standard and someone is seriously hurt or killed, the consequences are permanent, and the system that is supposed to answer for it is built to be hard to move. I represent patients and families, not hospitals and not insurers, and I bring the one thing these cases turn on more than any other: a lawyer who is prepared to try the case.
I want to be straight with you about how I handle this work, because it matters. Medical malpractice cases are expensive and complicated, and doing them right takes a team and significant resources. I take them on together with experienced co-counsel who focus on this area, pairing my trial and cross-examination experience with their depth in these specific cases. That is a strength, not a hedge. It means your case gets both the courtroom preparation and the specialized firepower it needs, and it means I can tell you candidly and early whether yours is a case I take on with co-counsel or one I help you place with the right firm. Either way, the first conversation is free and the goal is the same, getting you to the people who can help.
How these cases are proven
What counts as medical malpractice
Medical malpractice is not the same as a bad result. Medicine carries risk even when every choice is correct, and a disappointing outcome is not proof that anyone did anything wrong. Florida law measures a provider against the prevailing professional standard of care, which is the level of care, skill, and treatment that a reasonably careful provider in the same field would have given under the same circumstances. A case exists when the provider fell below that standard and that failure is what caused the harm. Both halves matter. A clear mistake that changed nothing is not a case, and a terrible outcome from careful treatment is not a case either. What we look for is a departure from accepted practice that made the difference.
That is why these cases begin with the records and a qualified expert, not with a phone call and a promise. Before anyone can say you have a claim, a medical professional in the right specialty has to review what happened and confirm there are reasonable grounds to believe the standard was breached. We build from there.
Florida makes you clear a gate before you can sue
Florida puts a mandatory pre-suit process in front of every medical malpractice claim, and it is one of the biggest reasons these cases are not do-it-yourself matters. Before a lawsuit can be filed, the law requires a pre-suit investigation and a written opinion from a qualified medical expert stating that there are reasonable grounds to believe malpractice occurred. Only then can we serve each prospective defendant with a formal notice of intent to begin litigation, which opens an investigation period during which both sides exchange information and the providers and their insurers evaluate the claim.
This process is strict, and the deadlines inside it are unforgiving. A misstep in the pre-suit phase can end a valid case before it ever reaches a courtroom. Handled correctly, though, it is also an opportunity, because it forces the other side to look hard at the facts early and sometimes resolves a strong case without a trial. Getting this stage right is exactly the kind of careful, procedure-driven work I have done my whole career.
The deadline, and why it is easy to miss
In general, a Florida medical malpractice claim must be brought within two years from the time you knew, or reasonably should have known, both that you were injured and that there was a reasonable possibility the injury was caused by medical negligence. Layered on top of that is an outer limit, a repose period of four years from the date of the malpractice itself, which can cut off a claim even if the harm was not discovered in time. There are narrow exceptions that can extend these limits, including fraud, intentional concealment, or misrepresentation that prevented discovery, and a separate rule that protects the claims of young children.
Because the two-year discovery clock, the four-year outer limit, and the exceptions can all apply to the same case in different ways, the deadline in a medical case is easy to get wrong, and it is one of the most common ways a real claim gets lost. If you suspect malpractice, the safe move is to have the timing reviewed right away rather than assume you have time.
The caps that fell, and what your case can recover
For years, Florida law capped the noneconomic damages, the compensation for pain, suffering, and the loss of a normal life, that a patient or family could recover in a medical malpractice case. Those caps are gone. The Florida Supreme Court held the wrongful death cap unconstitutional in Estate of McCall v. United States, 134 So. 3d 894 (Fla. 2014), and struck down the personal injury cap in North Broward Hospital District v. Kalitan, 219 So. 3d 49 (Fla. 2017), both on state constitutional grounds. That means a jury is no longer limited by those caps in what it can award for the human cost of what happened to you.
This matters, and it is worth saying clearly, because a lot of older content and even some lawyers still describe a hard cap that no longer exists. A full Florida medical malpractice recovery can include economic damages such as past and future medical care, lost income, and lost earning capacity, and noneconomic damages for the pain, disability, disfigurement, and loss that the injury caused. In the most serious cases involving intentional or reckless conduct, punitive damages may be available as well, under separate rules. What your case is worth turns on the harm and the proof, not on a cap that has been struck down.
How these cases are proven
A medical malpractice case is won on documents and experts, and that plays directly to my background. These are records-heavy, science-heavy cases, the same kind of document-intensive, technical work I did in complex criminal and white-collar litigation, where the answer lives in the details and in the ability to make a jury understand them. We assemble the complete medical record, bring in qualified experts in the relevant specialty to explain the standard of care and how it was breached, and prove causation, the link between the breach and the harm, which is often where these cases are truly fought. And when the defense puts up its own experts, cross-examining them is where cases are won or lost. Taking apart an expert on the stand is something I have spent a career learning to do. Learn more about my background.
The parts of a medical malpractice case we handle
Medical negligence takes many forms, and each has its own proof. These are the areas we take on, working together with experienced co-counsel where the case calls for it.
Common Questions
Do I have a medical malpractice case in Florida?
Not every bad outcome is malpractice. You have a case when a health care provider failed to meet the accepted standard of care and that failure caused you real harm. Medicine has risks even when everything is done right, so the question is whether the care fell below what a reasonable provider would have done, and whether that is what injured you. The only way to know is to have the records reviewed by a qualified medical expert, which is where these cases begin.
How long do I have to file a medical malpractice claim in Florida?
Generally two years from when you knew or reasonably should have known that the injury happened and that there was a reasonable possibility it was caused by medical negligence. There is also an outer limit of four years from the date of the malpractice, with narrow exceptions that can extend it, including fraud or concealment and a separate rule for young children. Because the clock and its exceptions are technical, the safe move is to have the timing checked early rather than assume.
Is it true Florida caps medical malpractice damages?
The old statutory caps on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases were struck down by the Florida Supreme Court as unconstitutional, both for wrongful death and for personal injury. That means the harm a jury can compensate for pain, suffering, and loss is not limited by those caps. Older articles that still describe a hard cap on these damages are out of date.
Why do medical malpractice cases require experts and pre-suit steps?
Florida law requires you to complete a pre-suit investigation before you can file, including a written opinion from a qualified medical expert that there are reasonable grounds to believe malpractice occurred. You then serve formal notice on the providers and go through an investigation period before suit. It is a real gate, and doing it correctly is one of the reasons these cases take resources and a team.
What does it cost to bring a medical malpractice case?
I handle these cases on a contingency basis, so there is no fee unless there is a recovery. Because they require expert review, records, and significant investment to work up properly, I take them on together with experienced co-counsel who focus on this area, and the costs are advanced rather than paid by you out of pocket. We explain all of it in plain terms before anything moves forward.
More medical malpractice claims we handle
Anesthesia errors · Failure to diagnose cancer · Heart attack misdiagnosis · Lack of informed consent · Medication and pharmacy errors · Sepsis and infection · Stroke misdiagnosis · Emergency room errors
This page is general information about Florida medical malpractice law, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. The governing authorities include Chapter 766 of the Florida Statutes, including the pre-suit notice and corroborating-expert-opinion requirements in sections 766.106 and 766.203 and the professional standard of care in section 766.102, and the two-year limitations period and four-year statute of repose in section 95.11(5)(c). The former statutory caps on noneconomic damages in section 766.118 were held unconstitutional in Estate of McCall v. United States, 134 So. 3d 894 (Fla. 2014), and North Broward Hospital District v. Kalitan, 219 So. 3d 49 (Fla. 2017). Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.
